Elefish Jellyphant

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After several outings on Fat Cat/Hip Hop Slam, the unique Live Human make their Matador debut with this fine new album, Elefish Jellyphant. And, just after the UK DMC championships, what better time to remind oneself of the musicality possible in scratch-djing, as this release is built around the trio's Carlos Aguilar, aka former DMC champion DJ Quest. Whilst they don't quite live up to the press release, which claims they obliterate the distinctions between hip-hop, avant rock and improv jazz - you might want to look to Christian Marclay, Philip Jeck or Steve Noble for that - musically they are head and shoulders above most other hip-hop oriented acts, and certainly most other scratch-oriented outfits. Andrew Kushin's upright bass and Albert Mathias drums jostle for space amidst Aguilar's dense mixes, usually aping on the funk foundations of hip-hop - these sessions do feel extremely 'live', with playing, scratching and sampling improvised on the spot. Essentially, the drums and bass provide a bed for the twists and turns of Aguilar, who emerges as the most creative player here. Not really for his virtuosic scratching - good as he is - but rather his keen musical sense, pushing the dj's layered approach to improvised composition, heard to best effect in his echoed Hassell-esque playing on "Lost World". He's not afraid to employ a few old-skool references along the way though, mixing up the scratching with flashes of records past, ghosts of disco/funk 45s suddenly present, correct and then gone into the ether, or rather Aguilar's record box. And of course, the familiar distorto-organ-refrain of "The Champ" by The Mohawks makes its umpteenth appearance in a hip-hop context, sounding a little worse for wear on "Quick Eleven". "Eggroll Suite" is the closest they come here to a post-rock hip-hop, rattling drums and skewed, off-kilter bass notes, ushering in Aguilar's edgy, unbalanced string samples. It's perhaps the best ensemble piece on the album, realising their avant-hip-hop potential. "Luck Hullabagunshot" is similarly reflective, not relying on beats, but rather a loose-strung roll from Mathias, gentle harmonics from Khusin and sparse stratospherics from Aguilar. The last two pieces feature samples from the eastern edge of Aguilar's collection to great effect, ending the album on a creative high. On these tracks, they really do seem like the only group who truly stand astride the shrinking divide between hip-hop and post-rock. You feel there's a greater record within their grasp one day, but Elefish Jellyphant is a fine, fine record, which will be lapped up by broad-minded listeners everywhere.